Motor vehicle parking installation

ABSTRACT

This electric motor vehicle parking installation comprises a tower above ground and includes vehicle parking places and at least one vehicle entry and/or exit area. 
     The tower includes a pair of contiguous coaxial helical ramps ( 2, 3 ) of identical pitch, comprising a first ramp ( 2 ) dedicated to parking vehicles and a fixed second ramp ( 3 ), the first ramp being mobile vertically and in rotation relative to the second ramp.

The invention is generally concerned with motor vehicle parking installations and more particularly concerned with electric motor vehicle parking installations.

The problem of parking motor vehicles is aggravated in the urban environment because of the space available for parking installations and because of the large number of vehicles that these installations are intended to receive.

Although underground installations enable a relatively large number of motor vehicles to be accommodated, it is clear that their use cannot be generalized because of the rarity of the locations able to accommodate them.

This is why solutions that consist in providing parking installations above ground level are tending to become generalized.

Such installations can provide a Noria type vehicle moving system in which vehicles are placed in parking locations placed in a loop movable about a horizontal axis.

Such installations can equally be provided with movable parking places in fixed storage cells, each place, after receiving a vehicle, being placed in a free cell, among a set of cells provided in these installations. On this topic see document EP-A-2 372 046, which describes one such arrangement.

Independently of the problem of storing the vehicles, it is also desirable to offer users solutions for charging their electric vehicle. This is also the problem touched on in the document EP-A-2 372 046.

It has been found that managing available places is difficult to implement in the prior art solutions. Such management necessitates programming means that are relatively costly to provide. Furthermore, the operations of dropping off and recovering a vehicle are also relatively inconvenient and difficult to make compatible with the number of vehicles that these installations are able to accommodate.

The object of the invention is therefore to alleviate these drawbacks and to provide an electric motor vehicle parking installation enabling some or all of the aforementioned drawbacks to be alleviated.

The invention therefore consists in an electric motor vehicle parking installation comprising a tower above ground and comprising vehicle parking places and at least one vehicle entry and/or exit area.

According to a general feature the tower includes a pair of contiguous coaxial helical ramps of identical pitch, comprising a first ramp dedicated to parking vehicles and a fixed second ramp, the first ramp being mobile vertically and in rotation relative to the second ramp.

While the fixed ramp is dedicated to vehicles exiting the tower, the mobile ramp delimits parking areas that can be offered up successively at the level of an entry area by simple movement in rotation and in translation of the mobile ramp.

Moreover, each vehicle can be removed from the tower regardless of its storage place in the internal ramp.

According to another feature of the installation, the first ramp is an internal ramp and the second ramp is an external ramp relative to the first ramp.

According to another feature of the invention, the first ramp includes vehicle charging means.

For example, the charging means include induction charging means.

In one embodiment, the vehicle entry and/or exit area includes means for automatically guiding vehicles to the second ramp and/or means for guiding vehicles to a vehicle drop-off and recovery area.

This does away with tedious operations of dropping off vehicles in the parking places when the vehicles are provided with driving assistance systems enabling them to move automatically, being guided automatically to the external ramp when vehicles are dropped off or, conversely, from the external ramp to the vehicle drop-off and recovery area when a vehicle is recovered.

The installation may further provide for the second ramp to include means for guiding vehicles to the entry and/or exit area and/or means for guiding vehicles to the first ramp.

Vehicles can therefore be moved automatically from the external ramp to the internal ramp when dropping off a vehicle or from the external ramp to the exit ramp when recovering a vehicle.

The first ramp can additionally includes means for guiding vehicles to the second ramp.

According to a further feature of the vehicle parking installation, the first ramp is mobile vertically and in rotation with a stepwise movement.

The installation further includes a central unit for managing the parking of vehicles, connected to vehicle parking detection means and a motor drive system for driving the movement of the mobile ramp.

For example, the central unit includes means for communicating with the vehicles and for establishing instructions commanding movement of vehicles from the mobile ramp to the entry and/or exit area via the fixed ramp.

The management unit can include a control stage adapted to receive instructions commanding recovery of vehicles sent by users.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent on reading the following description, given by way of nonlimiting example only and with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of an electric vehicle parking installation of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic profile view of the installation from FIG. 1 showing the arrangement of the mobile and fixed ramps;

FIG. 3 shows the installation from FIG. 2 during movement of the mobile internal ramp; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the installation from FIGS. 1 to 3 showing the principle of storing vehicles in the mobile ramp and of releasing a vehicle via the fixed ramp.

In FIG. 1 there is represented an electric vehicle parking installation of the invention designated by the general reference number 1.

As can be seen, the installation 1 takes the form of a tower built above ground and enabling users to park their vehicle dropped off in a drop-off area D in parking places provided in the installation.

It will be noted that, in the envisaged application, the vehicles V are provided with driving assistance systems of classic type enabling them to be guided automatically from the drop-off area to the parking places without intervention of the user and similarly to be moved automatically from the parking places to a vehicle recovery area (not shown), which where applicable coincides with the drop-off area D or which is placed at a distance therefrom.

To this end, the vehicles are for example provided with sensors capable of detecting guide lines leading from the drop-off area D to the parking places and from the parking places to the vehicle recovery area and complementary means capable of activating the steering column, the electric motor and, where applicable, the braking system of the vehicle, in such a manner as to enable guiding along the guide lines.

As can be seen, the installation 1 includes two ramps, namely an internal first ramp 2 for parking vehicles in which parking places P are formed and an external second ramp 3 dedicated to recovery of vehicles to enable their movement from the storage places to a vehicle entry/exit (E/S) area of the tower.

The two ramps 2 and 3 are coaxial helical ramps.

They have the same pitch and are disposed contiguously.

In other words, the outside diameter of the internal ramp substantially corresponds to the inside diameter of the external ramp, while leaving a clearance sufficient to enable movement of the ramps relative to each other and authorizing movement of vehicles between the internal ramp and the external ramp.

It is seen in FIGS. 2 and 3 that the internal ramp 2 is mounted on a central axis A. It lies in part in a ditch or excavation F in the ground at the level of which it is associated with a motor drive system M shown diagrammatically and at the level of which it is supported by bearings 4.

The motor drive system M is advantageously a stepper motor drive system capable of driving the internal ramp 3 in rotation with a stepwise movement with increments of the order of 30°.

Thanks to the presence of the bearings 4 which support the internal ramp 2, rotation of the internal ramp causes consecutive movements in the upward direction of the ramp along the external ramp 3.

In other words, the internal ramp 2 is mounted to be moved, by the action of the motor drive means M, between a low position, in which a vehicle parking place provided at the level of the end area of the internal ramp 2 is for example situated facing the lower end of the external ramp 3, i.e. facing the entry/exit area, and a high position, in which this parking place is situated facing the free end of the internal ramp 3.

It will be noted that the overall height of the external ramp 3 then corresponds to less than that of the internal ramp 2 in its highest position.

Referring now to FIG. 4, it is seen that the installation is furthermore provided with means enabling automatic charging of vehicles parked in the parking places.

For example, the charging means take the form of inductive type charging means.

There will therefore be provided, for example, a coil B integrated into the structure of the internal ramp 2 and a corresponding coil integrated into each vehicle, so that the coil B integrated into the parking places generates by induction in a coil integrated into the vehicles a current that charges their battery.

However, there is no departure from the scope of the invention if the charging means are based on technologies of another kind, obvious to a person skilled in the art.

It will further be noted, with reference to FIG. 4, that the installation may be provided with a fixed intermediate ramp 5, i.e. one associated with the external ramp 3, or a mobile intermediate ramp 5, i.e. one associated with the internal ramp 2.

However, associating the intermediate ramp 5 with the external ramp 3 makes it possible to alleviate the load applied to the motor drive system for driving the mobile assembly of the installation.

This intermediate ramp 5 is usable to obtain an intermediate storage area to which fully charged vehicles may be moved to free up a charging space for other vehicles. Also, this intermediate ramp can be used to double the capacity of the installation in terms of vehicle parking.

Referring again to FIG. 1, it is seen that the installation is completed by a central unit 6 connected to the various elements constituting the installation and, notably, to the internal ramp 2, in order to control the motor drive system M to cause the stepwise movement of the internal ramp when a vehicle comes into the drop-off area D and then to the entry/exit area or, to the contrary, when a user wishes to recover their vehicle.

In this respect, the installation may be provided with a set of sensors capable of detecting the presence of a vehicle in the various areas of the installation, notably the drop-off area, the parking places E, the vehicle entry/exit area E/S.

The central unit 6 is further provided with a telecommunication system 7 (represented diagrammatically) capable of communicating with telecommunication devices on board vehicles in order to cause their automatic movement during diverse phases of dropping off, parking or recovering vehicles.

A complementary telecommunication system 8 (also represented diagrammatically) can equally be provided in the central unit in order to enter into communication either via a telecommunication network or via a computer network in order to receive command instructions sent remotely by users, for example via the Short Message Service (SMS), by voice command, sent via a voice server, by direct command from a dedicated Internet site, etc.

Such command instructions can be sent by the users to command the making available at a specified time of a vehicle stored beforehand, the central unit 6 taking on the task of controlling the installation and the vehicle concerned, in order to make it available to the user in the recovery area at the specified time.

Of course, the central unit may equally be provided with a man-machine interface 9 enabling users to enter such instructions locally, directly from the installation.

As will be clear, the invention that has just been described, which makes vehicle parking areas available to users, and in which the parking areas are divided into a ramp provided with vehicle charging means mobile relative to a ramp dedicated to recovery of the vehicles, greatly facilitates the operations of dropping off and recovering vehicles, whilst enabling charging of stored vehicles.

Such an installation operating on a self-parking basis is thus particularly suitable for storing electric motor vehicles and making them available to users. 

1. Electric motor vehicle parking installation comprising a tower above ground and comprising vehicle parking places and at least one vehicle entry and/or exit area, wherein the tower comprises a pair of contiguous coaxial helical ramps of identical pitch, comprising a first ramp dedicated to parking vehicles and a fixed second ramp, the first ramp being mobile vertically and in rotation relative to the second ramp.
 2. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the first ramp is an internal ramp and the second ramp is an external ramp relative to the first ramp.
 3. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the first ramp includes vehicle charging means.
 4. Installation according to claim 3, wherein the charging means comprises induction charging means.
 5. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle entry and/or exit area includes means for automatically guiding vehicles to the second ramp and/or means for guiding vehicles to a vehicle drop-off and recovery area.
 6. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the second ramp comprises means for guiding vehicles to the entry and/or exit area and/or means for guiding vehicles to the first ramp.
 7. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the first ramp includes means for guiding vehicles to the second ramp.
 8. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the first ramp is mobile vertically and in rotation with a stepwise movement.
 9. Installation according to claim 1, further comprising a central unit for managing the parking of vehicles, connected to vehicle parking detection means and a motor drive system for driving the movement of the mobile ramp.
 10. Installation according to claim 9, wherein the central unit includes means for communicating with the vehicles and for establishing instructions commanding movement of vehicles from the mobile ramp to the entry and/or exit area via the fixed ramp.
 11. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the management unit includes a control stage adapted to receive instructions commanding recovery of vehicles sent by users. 